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A Fossil Trip to Red Hill - 2004

Devonian Fish

I went back to Red Hill to try my luck at Devonian fish. Red Hill contains a clear slice through the Devonian Period. It contains a large variety of fish, plants, and even contains two of North Americas oldest tetrapods. This makes it an ideal site for paleontologists studying the Devonian time period and for studying tetrapod evolution.

I went with the MGS, and this time I was much better prepared. I brought a small sledge and a large pry bar to battle the tough rock. This time, I wanted to get a Ctenacanthus sp. fin spine. After searching, I saw two barely visible in the road cut. I hunkered down and went to work, carefully excavating the spines. After spending a few hours on these spines, one ended up being broken only a few inches into the rock, and the other one was only a few inches long. Next time I will look for a larger one! At any rate, these two fin spines look much better than my fin spine that I hacked last time. I've decided not to prep these ones until I get a pneumatic air scribe.

Besides the fin spine disaster, I also found a fish tooth, and some placeoderm armor fragments, and part of an Archaeopteris plant.

All in all, it wasn't a bad trip, I'm slowly getting better at extracting those tough fossils.

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Additional Images and Fossils Found

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If you are interested the transition from fins to feet and Tetrapod Evolution, I strongly suggest:

Gaining Ground, Second Edition: The Origin and Evolution of Tetrapods (Life of the Past)
by Jennifer A. Clack

This book, full of comparative illustrations and photos, tells the story of tetrapod evolution, how it started 370 some million years ago, and goes through the different interpretations of the various early tetrapods. It is a must for anyone interested in Tetrapod evolution. If you have ever fossil collected at Red Hill, this book puts everything in perspective.